A 4-year legal battle over whether SF's bike plan was in compliance with the state's environmental law has been settled - the city has the go-ahead to resume planning and implementing new bike facilities designed to increase bike riding.
Perhaps more than any other lawsuit based on the California Environmental Quality Act, the suspension of San Francisco's bike plan on the basis that the city had not prepared an Environmental Impact Report showing the impact that bike lanes would have on vehicle parking and traffic revealed how this 4-decade old law may be easily misused in terms of the urban landscape.
On Friday, August 6, "Judge Peter J. Busch found the city in compliance with court-required environmental reviews of traffic and parking issues.
The decision lifts a 2006 court ban against implementation of the San Francisco Bicycle Plan and allows the city to move forward immediately on 35 bike projects. The bike plan called for adding 34 miles of bike lanes to the existing 45 miles."
"Today is the beginning of a new era for bicycling in San Francisco," Nathaniel Ford, executive director of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, said Friday."
Thanks to Paul Metz
FULL STORY: Ruling paves way for San Francisco bike lanes
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